Sainted Kings and Queens

The two saints honored this week played significant roles in establishing and forwarding the Christian faith as true apostles.  St. Stephen established Christianity in Hungary.  St. Helena is credited with finding relics of the cross of Jesus and thus establishing the cross as the predominant symbol of Christianity. What follows is a paltry, simplistic snapshot of these two lives, for the further one delves into historic lives, the more those lives are wrapped in speculation, hearsay and legend and myth.  The truth of these lives regardless, they are saints of God.

St. Stephen, First King of Hungary

St. Stephen of Hungary, King and Confessor (August 16)—Until around the year 1000, Hungary was ruled by rival pagan “hordes” or tribes, including the Magyars.  Stephen was the son of Géza, the chieftain of the Magyars. He was given the name Vajk when he was born, but at his baptism and conversion to Christianity, he took the name István (Stephen).  When his father died, Stephen wrested control of Hungary from his rivals, united the warring tribes and established Christianity as the religion of the land.  At the age of twenty, he married the sister of Henry II, the future Holy Roman Emperor.  Gisele aided her husband in his efforts bring Christianity to Hungary.  Stephen developed a plan for ecclesiastic order, founding five dioceses and the archdiocese at Gran.  He decreed that one in every ten towns must build a church and support a parish priest.  He pleaded with Pope Sylvester II for confirmation of his foundation and to confer the title of King to him.  The Pope was so impressed with Stephen’s efforts and humble request that he agreed  to all of Stephen’s requests and sent him a Holy crown and an apostolic cross.  On Christmas day, 1001, Stephen was crowned King of Hungary.  Tradition says he raised the crown and offered it to the Virgin Mary, thus sealing the divine contract to the crown. 

Holy Crown of Hungary

Interestingly, where most European monarchs wore their crowns because they ruled, in Hungary, the crown is the seat of Holy Rule.  The monarch is the ruler because he wears the crown.  It is still so today, even though Hungary is a republic.  During WWII, the crown was safeguarded at Fort Knox in the U.S. and was returned to Hungary in 1978 under the condition that it remain a museum piece.  But in 2000, the Holy Crown was moved from the Hungarian National Museum to the Parliament Building, ostensibly to convey divine ruling power to the government. King Stephen I and Queen Gisele led holy and pious lives, raising their son Emeric to be likewise.  King Stephen had hoped to hand over the governing of Hungary to his son, for he feared that the pagans would regain control.  But sadly, Emeric died at the age of 24 from injuries sustained on a boar hunt.  King Stephen died on August 15, 1038, on the Feast of the Assumption of Mary.  Both Stephen and Emeric were canonized together in 1083. 

 

Conegliano's St. Helena

St. Helena of Constantinople, Queen and Widow (August 18)—Helena lived during the latter part of the third century and into the fourth.  Her legend refers to her as “the discoverer of the true cross.” She was born of humble stock, yet caught the eye of a rising star in the firmament of the Roman military.  Constantius married Helena, claiming she was his soul mate.  But in 287, he divorced her to marry the daughter of the co-emperor, Maximian, in order to secure his position as Caesar.  Constantius and Helena had a son, Constantine, who would later become the emperor renowned for making Christianity legal in the Roman Empire.  Helena’s life was one of alternately humble obscurity and public scrutiny.  For after Constantius divorced her, she disappeared from historical interest and did not appear again until her son became emperor.  Yet Helena strove to live a pious and charitable life.  In the late years of her life, Helena went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and walked the paths of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  She had churches built where there were none and generously supported existing churches that she visited along her pilgrimage.  She gave to the poor, released prisoners wrongly imprisoned or not charged, and sought to restore exiles. During her pilgrimage, it is said that she found relics from the true cross of Christ.  But none of her early biographers, Eusebius included, make any mention of this.  Yet veneration of the cross and its significant symbolic meaning was not a part of early Christian faith until Helena.  It was Bishop Cyril of Jerusalem in 356 who perpetuated the discovery of the true cross during Constantine’s reign, connecting the discovery to the time of Helena’s pilgrimage through the Holy Land.  Helena died August 18, 330 and was canonized pre-congregation.